{"id":1262,"date":"2011-07-15T15:00:30","date_gmt":"2011-07-15T15:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/steampunkopera.wordpress.com\/?p=1262"},"modified":"2011-07-15T15:00:30","modified_gmt":"2011-07-15T15:00:30","slug":"haitian-vodou","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paulshapera.com\/temp\/haitian-vodou\/","title":{"rendered":"Haitian Vodou"},"content":{"rendered":"

As long as we’re using aspects of\u00a0Haitian Vodou\u00a0and drumming\u00a0for inspiration on a music and plot idea, we might as well do some research and learn some stuff. Although it’s the drumming that interests me the most, educating myself in all apsects\u00a0of the various tangents that pop up in writing this show has been a huge joy and the main purpose of this blog.\u00a0I assure you, 90% of my posts here are on topics i\u00a0knew nothing about prior to writing the show and\u00a0blog. (This includes steampunk\u00a0itself, the weimar era, etc.)<\/p>\n

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Vodou\u00a0is an African religion that is actually a\u00a0hodgpodge\u00a0of West and Central African religious worship\u00a0interlaced with Catholicism. The slaves captured and sent across the sea pooled\u00a0together their religous\u00a0knowledge, gods, spirits and\u00a0ritual to create Vodou.<\/p>\n

As Catholicism was forced onto the slaves, numerous similarities were found between Christianity and their ancient African heritage, and these were combined. For instance, Catholics saints each had particular attributes and were prayed to\u00a0in hopes they’d\u00a0intervene. This was just like the Loa spirits and many saints became stand ins for African Loa.<\/p>\n

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Baron Samedi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Vodou, there is one father God, Bondje, above all else. Bondje\u00a0is taken from the french Bon Dieu, or Good God. This ultimate one\u00a0great God is distant and does not really interact with his Creation, so if one wants intereaction\u00a0and assistance, one must turn to the saints and angels… the spirits under Bondje, the Loa (Iwa).<\/p>\n

What is particularly interesting is that many of these spirits\u00a0do indeed have counterparts in the Christian heirarchy\u00a0of saints and angels. Peter gaurds\u00a0the gates of heaven, and his image was used to represent Papa Legba, who guards the gate\u00a0of the spirit world and who must be called and honored at the beginning of each ritual to let the gate open.<\/p>\n

Erzulie is the beautiful female spirit of Love and water, and\u00a0she is represented by the Virgin Mary. Each person has a particular spirit who is closest to them and who watches\u00a0over them, essentially a replication of a Gaurdian Spirit.<\/p>\n

So one is left with a large pantheon of spirits to interact with, honor, and ask favors of.<\/p>\n

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8 Loa: Ezili Freda, Ogou, Ayida Wedo, Danbala, Gran Brigitte of the Gede, Bawon Samedi of the Gede, Lasiren, and Agwe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

These Loa fall into 3 general categories:<\/p>\n

Loa Rada: The “cool” spirits. They are graceful, stately, elemental and cosmic in nature. Their songs and dances are decorous and graceful, and the drumming that accompanies them is of an even beat.\u00a0During possession\u00a0by Rada, the celebrants\u00a0sing and dance beautifully. The\u00a0 Rada trace\u00a0back\u00a0to Africa.<\/p>\n

Loa Petwo: The “hot” Spirits. They are newer and we added when the various slaves reached\u00a0Haiti. They are aggressive and they come from the times of slavery and the rage and frustration slavery produced. It was the Petwo\u00a0who were called\u00a0and cultivated to help with the Haitian uprising in 1791 which resulted in the slaves liberating themselves and establishing the first black peoples’ republic, which is now Haiti. The drum beat accompanying Loa Petwo\u00a0is uneven, and celebrants possessed may cough up blood, stick themselves with pins or knives, or eat glass, all apparently without being harmed when they come to themselves again.<\/p>\n

Loa Ghede: The ancestral spirits.\u00a0\u00a0They are spirits of the family line\u00a0which can date back to\u00a0Africa\u00a0\u00a0They are often “quite rowdy and raunchy, sprinkling their conversation with profanities and sexual innuendo. Haitian culture is generally very conservative and does not normally reward such behaviour, but the loa Ghede\u00a0can commit such social transgressions with impunity – being dead, they are beyond punishment, and they seem to feel that shocking people is perfectly reasonable. They typically do not use profanity in an abusive manner, but prefer to make people laugh at their over-the-top behaviour. Predominantly male, and praised with raucous songs and enthusiastic dances, the loa Ghede\u00a0are the ancestors who bridge the gap between ‘Gine’ (Africa) and the living of Haiti. The Ghede’s\u00a0names all end in La Croix in honour of Baron and Maman\u00a0Brigitte who reclaim the souls of the ancestors and make them into loa; both Baron and Maman\u00a0Brigitte’s symbol is the cross. Vodouisants\u00a0possessed by the Ghede\u00a0often dance suggestively (though without desire – it is a paradox that the Ghede represent both eroticism and death), drink strong spirits, and behave outrageously.”<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Loa apparently all live in a city beneath the sea (except for Agwe) called Ile Ife\u00a0or Vilokan. The number of Loa are substantial. They are grouped into nations and families. There are\u00a021 nations of Loa. Loa are also related to each other in families, and\u00a0each family has a surname. So for instance the Ezili\u00a0family has two sisters who are rivals, Ezili\u00a0Freda and Ezili\u00a0Dantor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Boukman, a Vodou priest, began the Vodou ceremony that started the 1791 uprising that freed Haiti.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rituals:<\/p>\n

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An altar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A ritual is either personal or public and seeks to provide\u00a0communion between the individual or community and the divine and\/or spirit. Personal rituals usually include an altar. The altar is a very important aspect of personal\u00a0prayer and is often elaborately\u00a0decorated with candles, cloth, herbs, items associated with the Loa, symbols of the\u00a0Loa (veves) and offerings of food and drink.\u00a0Worshippers\u00a0can light candles, sing, dance,\u00a0make offerings, or simply pray quietly<\/p>\n

The public ritual on the other hand is where the wild stuff goes down.<\/p>\n

“Public rituals are more dramatic in nature. They take place in the hounfort\u00a0(temple) or peristyle (an open but roofed sacred space). Both have a central pole dedicated to Papa Legba, around which all the activities revolve. The hounfort\u00a0is decorated with the\u00a0“veves”\u00a0of the loa and altars. Beginning with a salute to Legba, keeper of the gate between worlds, the congregation is led through a pre-ritual feast and then songs and dances for the Rada, the Ghede, and the Petro. Vodouisants may become possessed by loa during the ceremony; the loa may wish to pass on specific messages, or simply manifest to enjoy the music and dancing.”<\/p>\n

\"\"From M. Rock: “After a day or two of preparation setting up altars, ritually preparing and cooking fowl and other foods, etc., a Haitian Vodou\u00a0service begins with a series of Catholic prayers and songs in French, then a litany in Kreyol\u00a0and African “langaj” that goes through all the European and African saints and lwa\u00a0honored by the house, and then a series of verses for all the main spirits of the house. This is called the “Priye\u00a0Gineh” or the African Prayer.<\/p>\n

“After more introductory songs then the songs for all the individual spirits are sung. As the songs are sung spirits will come to visit those present by taking possession of individuals and speaking and acting through them. Each spirit is saluted and greeted by the initiates present and will give readings, advice and cures to those who approach them for help. Many hours later in the wee hours of the morning, the last song is sung, guests leave, and all the exhausted hounsis\u00a0and houngans\u00a0and manbos can go to sleep.”<\/p>\n

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One last little interesting tidbit: the Voodoo doll, you know, the one you stick little pins into, is NOT an African invention, it comes from European folk magic, the Poppet (from which puppet\u00a0is derived). Vodou\u00a0had ritual carvings of Loa or objects of power. The European Poppet was introduced by the\u00a0Europeans and while the “voodoo” doll became used in Hoodoo,\u00a0 which is folk magic not\u00a0actually part of the religion, it is not a part of Haitian Vodou.\u00a0Poppets\u00a0are used by nailing them to a tree in a cemetery\u00a0to act as liaisons\u00a0to the\u00a0afterworld, usually to carry some sort of message.<\/p>\n

The “voodoo doll”\u00a0\u00a0has become popularized due to movies and works of fiction. There is no question that Vodou\u00a0has\u00a0been on the\u00a0receiving end of \u00a0a long campaign to paint\u00a0it as evil, savage, and\u00a0satanic, first by slaveowners and their culture, then by foreign Christians. Hollywood functions as a mouthpiece for painting fear and misunderstanding, mostly because it exists to excite popular imagination.<\/p>\n

There is no question that Vodou\u00a0and its very idea make Christians uncomfortable. One essential reason for this\u00a0is that Christianity is mostly a fertility based religion; calm, pastoral, symbolizing the seasons and their renewal. Vodou\u00a0is an ecstatic religion and its rituals promote altered states of consciousness. It is NOT calm. It is highly experiential. It is alien. It is however closer to the Charismatics\u00a0and some evangelical forms of Christianity, althought they would vehemently deny this. (But look closely…)<\/p>\n

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One last thing: Vodou\u00a0does also have rituals in which there are animal sacrifice. No doubt about it. The animals are killed in a very specific way which practitioners insist are humane and are indeed faster and simpler than most slaughterhouses where you get your meat from. The Loa feed off the life force of the animal and its blood. Make of this what you will.<\/p>\n

Here is a list of some Loa:<\/p>\n

Rada:<\/p>\n

Papa Legba\u00a0Atibon<\/strong>\u00a0– He is imaged as an old man, St. Lazarus is used to represent him in the hounfo or temple. He opens the gate to the spirits, and translates between human languages and the languages of the spirits.<\/p>\n

Marasa\u00a0Dosu Dosa<\/strong>\u00a0– They are twin children, either in twos or threes. Imaged with Sts. Cosmas and Damien, or the Three Virtues.<\/p>\n

Papa Loko\u00a0Atisou\u00a0and Manbo\u00a0Ayizan\u00a0Velekete<\/strong> – The prototypical priest and priestess of the tradition. They confer the office of priesthood in initiation.<\/p>\n

Danbala\u00a0Wedo\u00a0and Ayida\u00a0Wedo<\/strong>\u00a0– The white snake and the rainbow, together they are the oldest living beings. Danbala\u00a0brings people into the Vodou. St. Patrick and Moses are used for Danbala.<\/p>\n

Ogou\u00a0Feray<\/strong> – He is a fierce general who works hard for his children but can be moody and sullen at times as well.<\/p>\n

Ogou\u00a0Badagri<\/strong>\u00a0– He is a diplomat, and is Ogou\u00a0Feray’s chief rival.<\/p>\n

Ezili Freda<\/strong>\u00a0– She is a mature light-skinned woman who enjoys the finest things, jewelry, expensive perfume, champagne etc. She is said to own all men (or she thinks she does) and can be very jealous. She gives romance and luxury. She is so pure she must never touch the bare ground. Her main rival is her sister Ezili\u00a0Dantor<\/p>\n

Agwe\u00a0Tawoyo<\/strong>\u00a0– He rules the sea and those who have crossed the ocean, and is symbolized by his boat named “Imammou”. St. Ulrich is his saint counterpart.<\/p>\n

Petwo:<\/p>\n

Gran Bwa Ile<\/strong>\u00a0– His name means “Great Wood”. He is a spirit of wilderness. He is fierce and unpredictable, and a section of the grounds of a Vodou\u00a0temple is always left wild for him. St. Sebastian is used to represent Gran Bwa.<\/p>\n

Ezili\u00a0Dantor<\/strong>\u00a0– a Petwo\u00a0lwa, she is a strong black single mother. She does not speak, but makes a “kay\u00a0kay\u00a0kay” sound in possession. She is nurturing and protective but is dangerous when aroused, even to her own children. Her image is the Mater Salvatoris\u00a0of Czestokowa. She often uses a dagger or bayonet, and her colors are often red and dark blue. A little known fact is that she is actually a hermaphrodite, and takes both men and women in marriage.<\/p>\n

Ti Jan Petwo<\/strong>\u00a0– the son and lover of Ezili\u00a0Dantor.<\/p>\n

Simbi<\/strong>\u00a0– the Simbi\u00a0lwa live in fresh water rivers and are knowledgeable in the areas of magic and sorcery.<\/p>\n

The Bawons<\/strong>\u00a0– they rule the cemetary\u00a0and the grave. There are three – La Kwa, Samdi, and Simitye.<\/p>\n

The Gedeh<\/strong>\u00a0– The Gedeh\u00a0spirits are all dead spirits who rule death and humor and fertility. They drink rum steeped with 21 habanero\u00a0peppers and bathe their faces and genitals with this mixture also, to prove that they are who they say they are. They are sung for last at a party for the spirits. Chief of the Gedeh\u00a0is Gedeh\u00a0Nibo, with his wife Maman\u00a0Brijit. St. Gerard represents the Gedeh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As long as we’re using aspects of\u00a0Haitian Vodou\u00a0and drumming\u00a0for inspiration on a music and plot idea, we might as well do some research and learn some stuff. Although it’s the drumming that interests me the most, educating myself in all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[127,180,361,445],"class_list":["post-1262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-esotericism","tag-history","tag-spirituality","tag-voodoo","clearfix"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulshapera.com\/temp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulshapera.com\/temp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulshapera.com\/temp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulshapera.com\/temp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulshapera.com\/temp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paulshapera.com\/temp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1262\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulshapera.com\/temp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulshapera.com\/temp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulshapera.com\/temp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}